Landscape & Urban Design Issue 67 2024 | Page 58

GREEN & BLUE INFRASTRUCTURE

RECONSTRUCTION OF CENTRAL SQUARES

EXISTING CONDITION The area of intervention can be segmented into three zones that form logical spatial units : Ban Jelačić square : a wide street with trees that occasionally hosts seasonal events ; a square in front of the market : generator of the largest daily pedestrian and bicycle traffic ; and the main city square Zrinski : an apparently oversized square bounded on one side by the green facade of city park , and on the other side by the facade of an unfinished block of various contents and the city hall to the east and the old “ Podravka ” building in the west . Each of the mentioned spaces has a specific potential that distinguishes it from others , and the possibility of joining the system of public spaces in the center of Koprivnica . The main square of Zrinski , seen from the air , acts as an intersection of roads and pedestrian wpaths stretched between streets and smaller squares in the east and west . This spatial tension has made the main square of Koprivnica a transit place : a space defined more by flow and movement , and less by lingering and everyday activities . With intuitive lines of movement , cyclists bypass the vast empty space “ cutting ” the square diagonally in order to get from one end to the other as quickly as possible .
CONCEPT Accepting the flow as an inevitability in the functioning of new city square , and bicycle paths as a kind of coordinate system , smaller zones are formed between the mentioned paths and the perimeter of the square . Zrinski square is like a collage of activities defined by micro-locational specifics .
A “ tapestry ” of smaller squares structured around the solid axes of bicycle paths in the form of an “ X ” has been laid on ground . Each zone corresponds directly with the purpose of the surrounding context or brings its own new amenity .
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